Struggle in the Steam Age

The proposal of Lanhua Ironhoof to export mercenaries to Lawrence was quickly rejected by Lawrence, although even ordinary tauren would be no less than human trainee-level fighters as long as they were adults. But in this era when gunpowder weapons and firearms have become popular, the value of combat power equivalent to low-level transcendents has been greatly reduced.

So Lawrence said that the tauren did not need to pay additional armed forces as a price except for the uniform call-up. But he agreed that those tauren who are willing to work can directly come here to work.

After all, there is not much food shortage on the plains. After the discovery of small-scale coal and iron ore deposits, although the reserves of those minerals are insufficient, there is no way to develop the steel industry and build factories, but there is no problem at all to make some simple agricultural tools production tools.

In addition, one of the islands in Lawrence's previous visit was a salt-producing island. As long as he has food in his hand, he can get a lot of cheap salt from that island. And as long as a few cabins were brought over, those people under his command could eat for a whole year.

So the materials in Lawrence's hands are enough to meet the needs of people. On the other hand, due to the big construction, there is a shortage of manpower everywhere in the entire plain. Those responsible people who have been sent to various places have expressed to Lawrence that they hope to find some reliable foreign labor to help.

Therefore, it is good for both parties to work for the tauren. At least Lawrence thinks that if a tauren is willing to come out to help, he can put the lighthouse construction task originally scheduled for next year for this year.

"You are indeed a good suggestion, I will tell you when I go back." Lanhua Tiehu also saw the benefits of this proposal. "Anyway, the days of the busiest livestock giving birth have long passed. Those herds only need a few people to watch. If we exclude those who can't leave, I think we can draw 500 to 700 people out."

In Lanhua’s view, the busiest season is now over. Many of the Tauren tribes in the hilly areas are free. Although they can hunt and gather, they can’t make up for their consumption. In other words, the sufficient manpower at this stage is purely consuming materials.

So let the surplus people come out to work, let alone how much they can earn, just letting the humans take care of the food can make the tauren people often breathe out. Therefore, according to Lanhua’s judgment, as long as the news is passed back to the tribe, the tribe will be happy to send enough people to work.

Then the two sides discussed the safety of the way from the entrance of the plain to the hilly area where the tauren is located. Fortunately, because of the existence of the river, the planned road does not need to pass directly through the jungle like orchids. It can make full use of the river on the edge of the plain.

In other words, they only need to take a steamboat to travel up the current for more than 40 kilometers, and then trek in the jungle for less than five kilometers to reach the hilly area. Although the overall road looks a bit farther, considering that there is no danger in the river, this road is much faster than passing directly through the jungle, and it is also safer.

So two days later, Lawrence said goodbye to the tauren named Orchid on the dock. She is now bringing samples of various commodities and a temporary negotiation team to return to her hometown.

After all, the previous negotiation between Lawrence and her was just a simple contact negotiation. Although the tauren orchid, as a trainee shaman, can explain the attitude of some tauren people, it is absolutely impossible to sign any temporary agreement on behalf of the tauren. Therefore, Lawrence sent a small team into the hilly area this time to find the real leader of the tauren for negotiations.

I came to this port today not just to see the tauren farewell, but also to receive ships. It was also the result of the last visit. I bought two offshore sailboats from a neighbor at an extremely low price.

The island is very fortunately located near the channel, so there are more ships coming and going. Therefore, the island also relies on its unique geographical advantages to provide replenishment services for the ships passing by, and at the same time provide a certain level of repair services for ships that are injured on the way.

These two 150-ton sloops were the ships that were prepared to be repaired on the island before, but their original owners thought that they had been used for about ten years and spent so much money to repair them. So I simply abandoned the boat and threw it on the slipway, and then used another boat to transport the crew and the materials on board.

For the lord of that island, he also seemed very helpless when facing these two ships, because for his island, the ships are enough now, and having two more ships does not make much sense. And these two ships have no purpose except occupying two berths and wasted space.

According to the original plan, the two ships will be dismantled directly on the slipway in a short time. The useful things will be recycled, and the remaining things like wood will be burned as firewood.

But Lawrence was interested in the two seemingly good-quality ships. After all, the island he was holding was not small, and the main settlements were concentrated on the coastline. For him, it is obviously not enough to only rely on the boats on hand to communicate on the island if he wants to maintain contact on the island.

So in this situation where one wanted to sell and the other wanted to buy, the two parties completed the transaction immediately. The price offered by the island owner out of a friendly expression to the new neighbor was equivalent to the price of the overhaul of the two ships. , And is willing to deliver the two ships free of charge to the pier on the island of Neuschau.

So when they came this time, they sent a total of three ships. In addition to the two new ships delivered, one came to Lawrence to purchase supplies. Although the food for the first season has not yet come down, Lawrence and the others have already launched the territory's first product: grilled dried fish.

Lawrence found a seabird gathering place as soon as he arrived on the island, and judged that there might be fishing grounds around him. So after settling down, the Enterprise followed Lawrence's order to search for the fishing ground while patrolling and training. What Lawrence did not expect was that the fishing ground was not hidden, and the Enterprising found that large-scale fishing ground during its first offshore training.

Later, Lawrence asked the old immigrants and aboriginal people on the island to learn about this fishery. They already knew about this fishery~www.wuxiahere.com~ Unfortunately, because of the hot and humid local climate, there is no way to preserve the catch for a long time. The fishy smell of sun-dried seafood is not acceptable to ordinary people even if it is salted, and there is not much market for it except for eating it by yourself.

Therefore, they would only drive small boats or even canoes to capture some of them to supplement protein intake. The market is very narrow.

And now because of the steam engine and biogas, the catches can be sterilized by the high-temperature steam generated by the steam engine after they are moved ashore, and then the roasting room that uses the biogas as fuel can sterilize these high-temperature sterilizations. All kinds of seafood become all kinds of dried products.

As for canned food, Lawrence also thought about it, after all, canned food can be regarded as a landmark invention for the preservation of food. Unfortunately, for this small island that needs to import canned materials, if you want to make canned food yourself, then the container must be imported from outside the island, and the cost is too high.

Therefore, after repeated thinking and investigation, Lawrence made a decision: use the sufficient fuel on the island and the cheap spices that can be bought from the surrounding islands to make a variety of dried seafood that can be accepted by everyone, and then use it as a kind of seafood on the island. New product.